First Comic Civil War
The First Comic Civil War, also known as Comic Civil War I, CCWI or CWI was a conflict between two coalitions, the Comic Alliance and the Internetian Group. This war was the bloodiest in the history of the Solar System and spanned across the four main planets - Comic Earth, Taka Taka, Flatland and Internetia. Prelude The buildup to CCWI was a relatively peaceful yet economically tense period. The exploration of the Hub and revealed large deposits of precious minerals and energy sources, most notably oilrock. Stretchoa and Internetia, both low on resources, scrambled to secure sections of this expanse of land quickly while the Kingdom of Flatland found itself easily claiming land that was militarily superior but economically inferior. Flatland was keen to find a cheaper substitute to its most common form of energy at the time, Alkali. In the prelude to CCWI, Flatland was in control of a hill named Hill 461, more commonly known as Poacher's Bluff. This hill was adjacent to an Internetian-controlled oilrock deposit in sector 14. The king of Flatland at the time, King Roger, expressed interest in purchasing this land off the Internetians, saying that he would get oilrock by any means necessary. Breakout When Internetia refused to sell their oilrock fields, Roger gave the 30th Flat Armoured Infantry Division permission to mobilise into the Internetian territory. Within the first 24 hours of the invasion, Flatland gained an area of twenty square kilometres, easily capturing the limited Internetian defences. Two Flat soldiers were wounded and one Internetian soldier was killed during the invasion. Internetian response As soon as the first Flat soldiers lay foot on sovereign Internetian land, a report was sent back to Internetian congress. Within hours, war was declared on Flatland. The day after war was declared, the Internetians launched artillery strikes on Hill 461 and the oilrock fields which the Flats had taken. These attacks resulted in the deaths of between twenty and thirty Flats. Flat siege and end of Oilrock Crisis Following the artillery attack on Hill 461, the Kingdom of Flatland declared war on Internetia. Two thousand troops were sent into the sector of the hub where the oilrock fields were. Quickly it was established that the small central mining town in the sector was the hub of Internetian defences and a siege on it began. Over the course of three days, 51 Internetian defenders were killed by Flat rifle and artillery fire, while five Flats were killed by landmines. On the third day of the siege, the Flats broke the wall of the town and the sector was captured. This ended the opening campaign of CWI and gave Flatland the upper hand in the hub. Taka Taka joins the war Arm Island Arm Island was the first nation on Taka Taka to join in the "crisis in the Hub" as it was then known. Arm Island owned a large Sharkfruit plantation near the oilrock fields and considered themselves threatened by the impending Flat expansion. The Arm Island Head Chief Rock Zambani declared war on Flatland a week after the end of the Oilrock Crisis and stationed troops on the border of the sector. Several ambushes were made on Flat patrols throughout this time, disarming two Flat armoured trucks and resulting in the death of two Arm Islanders. Tulnosia Tulnosia declared war on Flatland the day after Arm Island as part of their Invasion War Alliance. Tulnosia avoided Hub activity and bombed several Flat meteor mines. They also placed heavy tariffs on exports to the planet of Flatland. Stretchoa Main article: Stretchoen invasion of Arm Island Stretchoa mobilised three weeks after the Oilrock Crisis after Tulnosia bombed a shared Flatland-Stretchoa mining base. They declared war on Tulnosia and then Arm Island, invading the latter with a force of 20,000 troops. Stretchoa also declared war on Internetia two days later. Candle Island Emirates The Candle Island Emirates entered the war neutrally, offering Red Sigil support on damaged mining colonies and the borders of sectors of the Hub. Development of war The war quickly spread out of sector 14, which became a bloody frontline between two halves of the Hub. Smaller planets owning territory in the Hub gave their loyalty to whichever side that their land was on. The Hub Front The Hub Front was made up primarily of Flats and Internetians, as neither suffered from attacks to their mainland. Stretchoa sent their reserve artillery squadrons to aid the Flats (who were short-handed on large guns) but did little else to contribute to the war effort in the Hub. Tulnosia quickly commenced bombing raids upon Flat territory. Conditions on the Hub front were brutal and lasted throughout most of the war. The stalemate meant that many troops were bogged down in the muddy, tropical environment of sector 14 and disease quickly spread and escalated. It was common for trenches to collapse on the Flat side (as they had no access to Arm Island timber farms) and thus they tended to resort to using artillery craters and foxholes for cover. 1st year of war During the first year of the war, Flatland commenced a series of pushes against the Internetian ranks. These attacks were generally unsuccessful and often resulted in large casualty counts, notably suffered at Bottleneck Plateau and Tonkin Woods. The Internetians secured a defensive dominance, purchasing arms off superior companies such as Victoria Naval.